As well as the Six Nations, the European Nations Cup Division 1A kicked off this weekend. The three top ranked teams, Georgia, Russia and Romania, who are all bound for the rugby World Cup in New Zealand later this year, played the three lower ranked teams, Portugal, Spain and Ukraine.
Ukraine has been promoted for the current series at the expense of Germany, who finished last in the previous series and has been relegated to Division 1B.
Every side plays each other team in their division home and away over a two-year period before promotion and relegation occurs.
The current series, the 2010-12 competition, has the following divisions: 1A, 1B, 2A, 2B, 2C, 2D and 3. The points system used is the same as Super Rugby – four points for a win, two for a draw, a bonus point for scoring four tries or more and a point for losing by seven or less points.
The 1A Division games are played at the same time as the Six Nations so that British and French clubs will allow European players to be released for their national sides.
In front of a vocal 10,000 home crowd in Tbilisi, Georgia easily outclassed the division newcomers, Ukraine, scoring 10 tries to nil for a final tally of 63-3.
Georgia wanted to score a 100 points but kept the ball in the forwards for too long and missed many opportunities. Ukraine’s campaign was not helped when their union’s president resigned on the eve of the game, sending the administration into disarray.
Portugal caused the upset of the round by defeating Romania in Lisbon, 24-17.
The Lobos led 24-3 at half-time and the under-strength Oaks fought back but could not catch Portugal. The 2,000 crowd groaned at the many handling errors made by the Portuguese in the second half. Australian Joe Gardener played fly-half for Portugal, scoring nine points with his boot before being replaced in the second term.
The other game saw Russia travel to Madrid to play Spain. Spain fielded only four Spaniards – the rest of the starting team made up of seven Frenchmen, three Argentinians and an Englishman. The Basques and Catalans treat the French-Spanish border as if it did not exist and players move across with ease.
Russia was travelling easily and were leading 22-3 well into the second-half. Egged on by the local 8000 crowd, Spain mounted a rally but could not catch the Russians. Although each side scored three tries each, penalties let the Spaniards down to let Russia win the match 28-24.
The results from the weekend were:
– Russia 28 beat Spain 24 in Madrid.
– Georgia 62 beat Ukraine 3 in Tbilisi.
– Portugal 24 beat Romania 17 in Lisbon.
Several lower division games were played last year but no clear trend has emerged to see any great improvers or losers. Only Germany’s loss to Poland in the 1B Division and Sweden winning both their Division 2A matches has been worthy of note so far.
Next weekend’s games are Georgia versus Spain in Tbilisi, Russia versus Portugal in Sochi and Ukraine versus Romania in Kiev.
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